OFFICIAL: CONDITION OF SERB PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE WORRYING

VUKOVAR, July 12 (Hina) - Nikola Alajica and Petar Mamula, two Croatian Serbs who are in prison facing war crimes charges, have been on a hunger strike for five weeks and their condition is worrying, Croatian Assistant Justice Minister Radovan Majski said in Vukovar on Thursday after the constituent session of the new make-up of the Joint Council of (Serb-dominated) Municipalities (ZVO). Majski, who was nominated to his post by the old ZVO composition as a Serb minority representative, said that he visited the two indictees in a Zagreb prison hospital yesterday. The Croatian public and the Justice Ministry do not have the information on the real condition of Alajica and Mamula, Majski said, adding he had informed the Justice Minister by letter that Alajica, who has been in custody since October 6, 2000, had lost 30 kilograms while Mamula had lost 24 kilograms. "Should the worst happen, which, given their condition, is possible, the judicial officials who accused them on the basis of collective responsibility without individualising criminal responsibility, will be held responsible," Majski said. The prisoners would resume the hunger strike until they are guaranteed guarantees that they will not be tried on the basis of a joint indictment which links them to indictees who are at large and are tried in absentia. Alajica and Mamula are on the same indictment with 56 other indictees, of whom five are in the custody of the Osijek County Prison. (hina) rml